Tamin Rahmani has been jailed for his part in the horrific attack (Picture: Kent Police)

A lost girl who stopped to ask men for help was dragged back to a flat and gang-raped.

The three men and a boy who subjected the teenage victim to an ‘abhorrent’ ordeal have been jailed.

The 16-year-old stopped to ask the group for directions in Ramsgate on Sunday, September 18 last year, Kent Police said.Shersha Muslimyar, 21, Tamin Rahmani, 38, Rafiullah Hamidy, 24, and a 17-year-old youth pounced on the girl as she made her way to a friend’s house after a night out.

The men then led her to one of their flats, where she was raped and escorted back out the building.

She was eventually found crying in the street by two members of the public who called the police.

Mugshot of Rafiullah Hamidy who has been jailed following the horrendous rape (Picture: Kent Police)

Detective Inspector Richard Vickery, of Kent Police, said: ‘The victim in this case was a vulnerable teenage girl who was taken advantage of and subjected to some of the most horrendous crimes imaginable.

‘It was late at night, she was lost and she asked a group of men for directions.

‘Rape is an abhorrent crime and the victim has suffered a great deal of emotional harm from the ordeal she was forced to endure.‘Instead they saw an opportunity to fulfil their depraved sexual desires and betrayed the trust she placed in them in the worst possible way.

‘She has displayed tremendous courage in reliving what happened to her, and I would like to personally thank her for having the strength to help bring her offenders to justice.

‘They clearly pose a significant danger to women and children and are fully deserving of the lengthy prison sentences they have received.’

Shershah Muslimyar was one of the men who raped the teenager (Picture: Kent Police)

Police Commander Stuart Cundy said the latest number, which was based on reports from the public, may rise and includes the 30 deaths that have already been confirmed after Wednesday’s blaze at the west London 24-storey building. He said it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify all the dead.

London fire: Kensington residents say government ignored them

“Sadly, at this time there are 58 people who we have been told were in the Grenfell Tower on the night that are missing, and therefore sadly, I have to assume that they are dead,” he said.

Cundy said there may have been other people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the final death toll. He asked anyone who was in the tower and survived to contact police immediately.

The first victim has been formally identified as 23-year-old Mohammed Alhajali, a Syrian refugee who lived in Grenfell Tower.

Police say the harrowing search for remains had been paused on Friday because of safety concerns at the blacked tower but has now resumed, with emergency workers reaching the top of the tower.

The identification of the victims is proving very difficult – which experts attribute to the extreme heat of the fire. British health authorities say that 19 fire survivors are still being treated at London hospitals, and 10 of them remain in critical condition.

Cundy said police will investigate the tower’s refurbishment project, which experts believe may have left the building in the north Kensington area more vulnerable to a catastrophic blaze.

Rising anger

Hundreds have been left homeless by the blaze [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

The government has promised a full public inquiry, but that has done little to a sense of frustration and anger among residents and neighbours who demand answers for how the blaze spread so quickly and trapped so many of the tower’s roughly 600 residents.

Some Grenfell Tower residents had warned months ago fire safety issues at the building meant that it was at risk of a “catastrophic” event.

They say their complaints were ignored – and fear it was because the tower housed mainly poor people in a hugely wealthy neighbourhood.

British media have reported that contractors installed a cheaper, less flame-resistant type of exterior panelling on the tower in a renovation that was completed just last year.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, facing criticism for the government’s handling of the disaster, on Saturday met with a small group of fire survivors at her official residence at 10 Downing Street.

The meeting is unlikely to quell complaints that May has been slow to reach out to victims, despite her announcement of a $6.4m emergency fund to help the displaced families. May was jeered on Friday after she visited the affected community.

Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego, reporting from west London, said there has been a lot of distress in the area at the slow release of information and the perceived lacklustre response by the authorities.

“There is also a lot of anger and frustration at the lack of any kind of presence here of the local council. The local community really has been spearheading a lot of the support here to try to give those affected by the fire food, water and shelter,” she said.

The tragedy has provoked a huge response from nearby communities. More than three million pounds ($3.8m) have been raised for the affected families.

Hundreds have been left homeless by the blaze, putting more pressure on officials in a city plagued by a chronic housing shortage. Many of the displaced are living in churches and community centres.

London: Police launch investigation into Grenfell Tower fire

So far, 109 families have been given temporary accommodation by in hotels within the local area, Gallego said.

“But it is still not 100 percent certain if they will be [permanently] re-housed in the borough. That is very controversial here as it is a place that people have made their homes, have families, and have networks,” she added.

Scuffles broke out near the Kensington and Chelsea town hall offices on Friday as demonstrators chanting “We want justice!” surged toward the doors.

Engineering experts and fire safety specialists believe the building’s exterior cladding may have quickly fuelled the blaze, overwhelming fire protection devices. British officials have ordered a review of other buildings that have had similar renovations.

The use of flammable cladding in tall buildings is banned in some countries, including the US and Germany. Grenfell residents also claimed that newly installed gas pipes running up the inside of the building were not boxed in with fire-retardant covers, and there was no sprinkler system.

Ronnie King, the UK’s former chief fire officer, told Al Jazeera: “I wouldn’t wish to denigrate those who installed the cladding because – whatever the cladding was – it did not have to be fire resistant under the building regulations,” said King.

“We were seeking a change to the building regulations for that very purpose.”

King also said that there are around 4,000 tower blocks in the UK without automatic fire sprinkler protection systems in place.

“We’ve long been advocates of automatic fire sprinkler protection in tall tower blocks and they work – people don’t die in sprinkler buildings,” he said.

Two Underground lines near the fire area were partially shut down on Saturday to make sure that debris did not land on the tracks.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the architect of German reunification, died on June 16, the mass-selling newspaper Bild reported. He was 87.

Bild reported in its online edition that Kohl died in the morning in his home in Ludwigshafen, in western Germany.

“We mourn,” Kohl’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) tweeted with a picture of the former chancellor.

Germany’s longest serving post-war chancellor from 1982 to 1998, Kohl was a driving force behind the introduction of the euro currency, convincing sceptical Germans to give up their cherished deutschemark.

An imposing figure who formed a close relationship with French President Francois Mitterrand in pushing for closer European integration, Kohl had been frail and wheelchair-bound since suffering a bad fall in 2008.

At home, he is celebrated above all as the father of German reunification, which he achieved after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall despite resistance from partners such as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

He won voters in communist East Germany by promising them “flourishing landscapes”.

Shortly after leaving office, Kohl’s reputation was tarnished by a financing scandal in his centre-right party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), now led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Kohl mentored Merkel early in her career, appointing her to her first ministerial post.

Until his death, Kohl refused to identify the donors, saying he had given them his word.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (left) met with Slovak his counterpart, Andrej Kiska, on the Slovak-Ukrainian border on June 11, opening a symbolic “door to the EU.”

BRUSSELS — Ukrainians are celebrating the first day of visa-free travel to most EU countries, which President Petro Poroshenko welcomed as a “a final exit of our country from the Russian Empire.”

The liberalized regime entered into force on June 11, allowing Ukrainian citizens who have biometric passports to enter all EU member states other than Ireland and the United Kingdom without a visa for up to 90 days during any 180-day period. It also applies to four Schengen Area countries that are not in the EU: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.

Poroshenko met with Slovak his counterpart, Andrej Kiska, on the Slovak-Ukrainian border, opening a symbolic “door to the EU.”

“We have waited so long for this,” the Ukrainian president said at the Uzhhorod border crossing in the Zakarpattia region. “I am sure that this day, June 11, will go down in the history of Ukraine as a final exit of our country from the Russian empire and its return to the family of European nations. “Welcome to Europe,” Kiska told the crowd attending the event. “I want to call on you to continue carrying out reforms.”

“The visa-free regime for Ukraine has started! Glory to Europe! Glory to Ukraine!” Poroshenko earlier wrote on Twitter after hundreds of Ukrainians crossed the EU border.

WATCH: June 11 was the first day when the citizens of Ukraine could enter countries of the European Union without a visa. Passengers arriving in Brussels on a flight from Kyiv shared their positive feelings with RFE/RL correspondent Rikard Jozwiak.

Thousands of people had crossed the border into EU countries by midday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s consular department wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian travelers arriving in Brussels on June 11 said they were pleased about the ease with which they could now travel to Europe and the greater integration with the EU that it represented.

“It feels very good when you can travel without any restrictions, when you just need to have a passport and that’s all. That feels very good,” Ukrainian student Inna Teryokhina told RFE/RL at Brussels Airport.

Ukrainian border officials said they are expecting a 30 percent rise in passenger traffic at control sites along the frontier with the new regulations.

WATCH: ​The first Ukrainians arriving in the Czech Republic without visas were passengers on a June 11 morning flight from Odesa. RFE/RL interviewed some of them at Vaclav Havel international airport in Prague. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

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Mykola Tochytskyi, the head of Ukraine’s mission to the EU, told RFE/RL outside the European Parliament in Brussels on June 11 that “for Ukraine, today is a big day.”

“It is not only about celebration; it is also a confirmation of our stand[ing]. To be with Europe. Not only outside of the region, but to be with Europe, to be a partner [who had] implemented all the benchmarks when it was decided to go for the visa-free regime,” Tochytskyi said.

In a message on Twitter posted on June 11, European Council President Donald Tusk wrote, “A day to remember. Visa free travel for Ukrainians now a reality. Bringing us closer together.”

In a video address, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn said that visa-free travel was achieved after “a long process but finally the reform efforts paid off.”

“This is a real milestone proving that the European Union delivers on its promises,” he said. “Ukraine’s commitment to the reform process will always result in tangible benefits for the citizens. This should be a motivation to stay on the reform course.”

“Today, we bring down a barrier between the people of Ukraine and the people of the European Union,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a video address released late on June 10.

“It will create new opportunities for all of us, strengthening our economies, or security, and our friendship,” she also said. “And this is what our partnership is all about: making a difference to our citizens’ everyday life.”

Hugues Mingarelli, head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, said at the ceremony that Ukrainians will be able “to travel to 33 countries of West Europe without any visa requirements.”

Mingarelli said the visa-free regime was “just the first step” toward “intensifying relations” between the EU and Ukraine.

Poroshenko said on June 10 as he counted down the final 12 hours before the start of the travel regime that he believes Ukraine will become a member of both NATO and the EU, and that “nothing, nobody will ever stop us.”

“The words ‘back in the U.S.S.R.’ will be heard only listening to The Beatles,” Poroshenko said. “We will never return to the Soviet Union because we, a proud and free democratic nation, return to the family of European nations.”

He said the “last sound of the countdown” will mark “the fall of not the concrete Berlin Wall but the paper curtain that has been separating Ukrainians from the European family for years.”

“We must return Ukrainians their history. That is why today’s decision of the EU is so important. A long process has been completed. First of all, it goes about the return of Ukraine to its historic place among the European countries, not only about the visa-free border crossing,” Poroshenko told the 1+1 television channel.

Poroshenko’s predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, was pushed from power in 2014 by massive pro-European protests after he scrapped plans for a deal to tighten ties with the EU. Russia then seized control of Ukraine’s Crimea region and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine, where a war between Russia-backed forces and the government has killed more than 9,900 people.

Much of present-day Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire beginning in the 17th century, and Ukraine was under Moscow’s thumb as a Soviet republic for most of the 20th century. It gained independence in the Soviet collapse of 1991.

Police stand in the vicinity of Manchester arena in Manchester, Britain May 24, 2017. (Reuters)

Reuters, Manchester

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

The Manchester suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children had recently returned from Libya, a British minister said, and her French counterpart said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria too.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said Salman Abedi had likely not acted alone, and troops were being deployed to key sites across Britain to help prevent further attacks after the official threat level was raised to “critical”.

Police made three new arrests in South Manchester on Wednesday in connection with the concert bombing. They provided no details on the individuals arrested.

Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties at places like Buckingham Palace and Downing Street to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, initially in London, then elsewhere.

Rudd also scolded US officials for leaking details about the investigation into the Manchester attack before British authorities were prepared to go public.

British-born Abedi, 22, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande, attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

His 22 victims included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.

The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.

Unlikely Abedi acted alone

“It seems likely, possible, that he (Abedi) wasn’t doing this on his own,” Rudd said on BBC radio. She said Abedi had been known to security services before the bombing.

Asked about reports that Abedi had recently returned from Libya, Rudd said she believed that had now been confirmed.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said British investigators had told French authorities Abedi had probably travelled to Syria as well.

“Today we only know what British investigators have told us – someone of British nationality, of Libyan origin, who suddenly after a trip to Libya, then probably to Syria, becomes radicalized and decides to carry out this attack,” Collomb told BFMTV.

Asked if he believed Abedi had the support of a network, Collomb said: “That is not known yet, but perhaps. In any case, (he had) links with Daesh (Islamic State) that are proven.”

ISIS, now being driven from territories in Syria and Iraq by Western-backed armed forces, claimed responsibility for the Manchester attack, but there were contradictions in its accounts of the action and a lack of crucial detail.

Prime Minister Theresa May chaired a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency response committee at her Downing Street office on Wednesday morning.

Britain has a national election coming up on June 8 but all campaigning has been suspended since the bombing. Coverage of the attack and its aftermath has pushed out political news from the British media.

Emmanuel Macron said France had chosen “hope” as he was officially inaugurated as the country’s youngest president ever on Sunday. (Reuters)

Agencies, Paris

Sunday, 14 May 2017

Emmanuel Macron said France had chosen “hope” as he was officially inaugurated as the country’s youngest president ever on Sunday.

Macron, 39, promised in his first speech as president that the beleaguered European Union would be “reformed and relaunched” during his time in office.

Central Paris standstill for the inauguration of Emmanuel Macron as president of France for a five-year term he overcame the odds to win and which he has said can unite a divided nation.

In a first for the world’s fifth largest economy that is a founding member of the European Union, the 39 year-old centrist newcomer was unknown to the wider public three years ago and does not belong to any traditional political grouping.

The former investment banker will become the youngest postwar French leader and the first to be born after 1958 when President Charles de Gaulle put in place the country’s fifth Republic.

In the coming parliamentary elections in June he must try to win a parliamentary majority for his start-up Republic on the Move (REM) party which has blown apart traditional French political boundaries.

Those who believe that the open borders, closer European ties and business-friendly reforms Macron wants are the key to prosperity and peace were relieved when he won a run-off vote against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen a week ago with 66 percent of the vote.

A 21 gun salute at the Esplanade des Invalides behind the Eiffel Tower after he takes power will mark at least a pause in the anti-globalization trend that brought Donald Trump the U.S. presidency and led British voters to pick a future outside the European Union.

But the outcome of a fraught, tight, and bitterly contested election campaign was a disappointment for almost half of France’s 47 million voters.

Many of them feel dispossessed as manufacturing jobs move abroad and as immigration and a fast-changing world blur their sense of a French identity.

In the first round of voting, more than 45 percent chose either Le Pen or other candidates who promised the opposite of Macron’s medicine; that they would close the wealth gap by rolling back globalization, shutting borders and unraveling the institutions of the EU.

Macron, once an aide to outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande and who rose to fame as his economy minister between 2014 and 2016, may therefore struggle to get the country behind him.

The business-friendly labor reforms in his program will push on with an effort Hollande started and which killed his chances of a second term by failing to fix unemployment. They helped make Hollande the least popular French president in modern history.

But the timing of France’s youthful new leader is good.

The economy, in the doldrums for years, is beginning to show signs of recovery.

Union power has waned in the Hollande years, even though workers rights are still held dear. And until a financial scandal ruined his campaign at the start of this year, Macron’s mainstream conservative rival Francois Fillon had won wide electoral support for a far more aggressive set of pro-business measures.

Macron has already forged close ties with EU anchor nation Germany, and will head for Berlin on Monday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and ram home the message that the bloc is resilient despite Britain’s ‘Brexit’ vote.

The handover begins at around 10 am (4 a.m. ET) at the 18th century Elysee palace presidential residence with a meeting that will include the exchange of nuclear missile launch codes.

Then Hollande will leave.

Back inside the Elysee, the result of the election will be read out – a moment that marks the actual assumption of power.

Macron will then be presented with what is effectively his chain of office – a heavy golden necklace mounted on a red cushion that makes him Grand Master of the National Order of the Legion d’Honneur – an honors system for servants of the Republic.

Aides said he will not actually put on the necklace. Neither of his two predecessors did.

After that, the pomp will ramp up.

An inspection of troops behind the palace will be followed by the 21 gun salute, and the new president will leave the Elysee through a gate topped by a gilded cockerel – a creature symbolic of France for centuries.

Then Macron will visit the Arc de Triomphe and the tomb beneath it of the unknown soldier, one of the millions who died as World War One raged a century ago.

Heavy with military symbolism, the site is a potent reminder that France is a member of the NATO defense alliance, of its place in two world wars, and of its turbulent past under Napoleon Bonaparte who ordered the Arc’s construction in 1806 to commemorate his brief conquest of Europe.

The Arc is also in sight of the place officials believe was the scene of the latest Islamist militant attack to hit France.

Days before the first round of presidential voting in April, a policeman was shot dead by a suspected militant on the Champs Elysees shopping avenue that leads from the Arc.

Macron’s inauguration takes place under a state of emergency in place since 2015.

More than 230 people have died in attacks claimed by Islamic State in the past two years as France takes part in military action against the militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq.

Fifteen hundred police will be mobilized to ensure security for the event. A large section of Paris will be closed to traffic all morning.

French President-elect Emmanuel Macron celebrates on the stage at his victory rally near the Louvre in Paris, France May 7, 2017. (Reuters)

Reuters

Monday, 8 May 2017

Paris’ main mosque said on Sunday that the election of centrist Emmanuel Macron as France’s next president over far-right leader Marine Le Pen was a sign of reconciliation between French religions.

“It is a clear sign of hope to French Muslims that they can live in harmony and respect of French values”, La Grande Mosquée de Paris said in a statement.

Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union.

The centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as US president.

With virtually all votes counted, Macron had topped 66 percent against just under 34 percent for Le Pen – a gap wider than the 20 or so percentage points that pre-election surveys had suggested.

Even so, it was a record performance for the National Front, a party whose anti-immigrant policies once made it a pariah, and underlined the scale of the divisions that Macron must now try to heal.

After winning the first round two weeks ago, Macron had been accused of behaving as if he was already president; on Sunday night, with victory finally sealed, he was much more solemn.

“I know the divisions in our nation, which have led some to vote for the extremes. I respect them,” Macron said in an address at his campaign headquarters, shown live on television.

“I know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that very many of you have also expressed. It’s my responsibility to hear them,” he said. “I will work to recreate the link between Europe and its peoples, between Europe and citizens.”

Later he strode alone almost grimly through the courtyard of the Louvre Palace in central Paris to the strains of the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, not breaking into a smile until he mounted the stage of his victory rally to the cheers of his partying supporters.

His immediate challenge will be to secure a majority in next month’s parliamentary election for a political movement that is barely a year old, rebranded as La Republique En Marche (“Onward the Republic”), in order to implement his program.

UNITED NATIONS/MOSCOW/BEIRUT:

Russia warned on Friday that US cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base could have “extremely serious” consequences, as President Donald Trump’s first major foray into a foreign conflict opened up a rift between Moscow and Washington.

The warships USS Porter and USS Ross in the Mediterranean Sea launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at the Shayrat air base, which the Pentagon says was involved in a chemical weapons attack this week.

It was Trump’s biggest foreign policy decision since taking office in January and the kind of direct intervention in Syria’s six-year-old civil war his predecessor Barack Obama avoided.

The strikes were in reaction to what Washington says was a poison gas attack by the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad that killed at least 70 people in the rebel-held territory. Syria denies it carried out the attack.

They catapulted Washington into a confrontation with Russia, which has advisers on the ground aiding its close ally Assad.

“We strongly condemn the illegitimate actions by the US. The consequences of this for regional and international stability could be extremely serious,” Russia’s deputy UN envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, told a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged that the US strikes were one step away from clashing with Russia’s military.

Satellite imagery suggests the base houses Russian special forces and helicopters, part of the Kremlin’s effort to help Assad fight Islamic State and other militant groups.

Trump has frequently urged improved relations with Russia, strained under Obama over Syria, Ukraine and other issues, was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday night when the attack occurred.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, in Florida with Trump, said on Friday the United States would announce additional sanctions on Syria in the near future but offered no specifics.

Russia’s Defence Ministry responded to the attack by calling in the US military attaché in Moscow to say that at midnight Moscow time (5 p.m. EDT) it would close down a communications line used to avoid accidental clashes between Russian and US forces in Syria, Interfax new agency said. US warplanes frequently attack Islamic State militants in Syria and come close to Russian forces.

“Prepared to do more”

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Friday the Trump administration was ready to take further steps if needed.

“We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary,” she told the UN Security Council. “The United States will not stand by when chemical weapons are used. It is in our vital national security interest to prevent the spread and use of chemical weapons.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who also was in Florida with Trump and is scheduled to go to Moscow next week, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the Russian reaction because it showed continued support for Assad.

Iran, which supports Assad and has been criticised by Trump, condemned the strike, with President Hassan Rouhani saying it would bring “only destruction and danger to the region and the globe.”

US officials called the intervention a “one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks and not an expansion of the US role in the Syrian war.

US allies from Asia, Europe and the Middle East expressed support for the attack, if sometimes cautiously.

The action is likely to be interpreted as a signal to Russia, and countries such as North Korea, China and Iran where Trump has faced foreign policy tests early in his presidency, of his willingness to use force.

The United States is now likely to be more aggressive in pursuing intelligence about Syria’s suspected chemical weapons program. The Pentagon has also signalled interest in determining any Russian complicity.

“At a minimum, the Russians failed to rein in the Syrian regime activity,” a senior US military official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official also said the United States had been unable to determine if a Russian or Syrian aircraft bombed a hospital that was treating victims of the chemical attack.

Russia joined the war on Assad’s behalf in 2015, turning the momentum in his favour. Although Moscow supports opposing sides in the war between Assad and rebels, the United States and Russia say they share a single main enemy, Islamic State.

Tillerson said the strike took out about 20% of the seventh wing of the Syrian air force and hit a fuelling facility. The base’s runway was still in use.

Assad’s office said Syria would strike its enemies harder.

Damascus and Moscow denied Syrian forces were behind the gas attack but Western countries dismissed their explanation that chemicals leaked from a rebel weapons depot after an air strike.

The Syrian army said the US attack killed six people and called it “blatant aggression” that made the United States a partner of “terrorist groups” including Islamic State. There was no independent confirmation of civilian casualties.

US lawmakers from both parties on Friday backed Trump’s action but demanded he spells out a broader strategy for dealing with the conflict and consults with Congress on any further action.

The UN Security Council had been negotiating a resolution, proposed by the United States, France and Britain on Tuesday, to condemn the gas attack and push the Syrian government to cooperate with international investigators.

Russia said the text was unacceptable and diplomats said it was unlikely to be put to a vote.

Washington has long backed rebels fighting Assad in a multi-sided civil war that has killed more than 400,000 people and driven half of Syrians from their homes since 2011.

The United States has conducted air strikes against Islamic State, which controls territory in eastern and northern Syria, and a small number of US troops are helping rebel militias.

Asked whether the strikes set back any efforts to work with Russia to defeat Islamic State, sometimes known as ISIS, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said:

“There can be a shared commitment to defeat ISIS and also agree that you can’t gas your own people.”

Tuesday’s attack was the first time since 2013 that Syria was accused of using sarin, a banned nerve agent it was meant to have given up under a Russian-brokered, UN-enforced deal that persuaded Obama to call off air strikes four years ago.

Video depicted limp bodies and children choking while rescuers tried to wash off the poison gas. Russian state television blamed rebels and did not show footage of victims.

The US strikes cheered Assad’s enemies, after months when Western powers appeared to grow increasingly resigned to his staying in power. But opposition figures said an isolated assault was far from the decisive intervention they seek.

Neither the Trump administration nor its predecessor has laid out a policy aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.

At least 10 people are feared dead and 50 others injured after two explosions rocked two metro stations in Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent reported.

There were blasts in two train carriages at two metro stations, St Petersburg emergency services said.

News agency Interfax cited a source as saying at least one of the blasts involved a device filled with shrapnel. The agency also said that 50 people had been injured.

All metro stations in St. Petersburg have been temporarily closed down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his government is “considering all causes, including terrorism”.

“Sources from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government have said they are considering all causes behind the explosion but are looking at mainly three main theories; either it was a technical error, or an organized crime or a terrorist attack,” Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent in St. Petersburg Mazen Abbas said.

Abbas also reported that initial reports from security sources suggest the explosives were made from devices with at least 350g TNT.

Tight security

Journalist and writer Ashraf al-Sabbagh told Al Arabiya from Moscow that sources have confirmed that tightened security is expected in Moscow in the coming days.

“It is expected for Moscow to tighten security even further after Monday’s attacks in St. Petersburg. Security has already been tight for the past few months as this is not the first threat Russia has faced. To what extent these measures will take shape will be clear in the coming days,” Sabbagh told

British prime minister signs letter to be delivered to European Union, triggering countdown to EU exit.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday trigger the formal, two-year process of negotiations that will lead to Britain leaving the European Union (EU).

Late on Tuesday, a photograph was released of her signing a letter invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and officially notifying the EU of Britain’s decision to withdraw from the bloc after more than 40 years in a process popularly known as Brexit.

The letter is to be hand-delivered to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels by British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow at 1130 GMT and copies are to be sent to the other 27 EU member states.

How will Brexit impact the UK economy?

In a speech to parliament designed to coincide with the letter’s delivery, May will urge the country to come together as it embarks on a “momentous journey.”

“We are one great union of people and nations with a proud history and a bright future. And, now that the decision has been made to leave the EU, it is time to come together,” she is to say.

May will tell MPs that she wants to represent “every person in the UK,” including EU nationals, in negotiations.

Britain voted to leave the EU last June, after a campaign that divided the country. In a close result, 52 percent voted for Brexit, while 48 percent wanted to stay in the EU.

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, while England and Wales, with a much larger combined population, voted to leave.

May spoke to key EU figures late on Tuesday including Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Juncker said his conversation had been “good and instructive” and that Britain would remain a “close and committed ally.”

May has promised to take Britain out of the EU single market but negotiate a deal that keeps close trade relations with Europe, as she builds “a strong, self-governing global Britain” with control over its own borders and laws.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said Britain was “on the threshold of the most important negotiation” for Britain “for a generation.”

Challenges ahead

The British parliament backed May’s Article 50 plan earlier this month, after six weeks of debate.

The EU is expected to issue a first response to Britain on Friday, followed by a summit of EU leaders on April 29 to adopt their own guidelines – meaning it could be weeks before formal talks start.

Their priority is settling Britain’s outstanding obligations, estimated between 55 and 60 billion euros [$59bn and $65bn] – an early battle that could set the tone for the rest of the negotiations.

Both sides have also said they are keen to resolve the status of more than three million European nationals living in Britain after Brexit, and one million British expats living in the EU.

Europeans in UK face uncertain future after Brexit

The two sides also want to ensure Brexit does not exacerbate tensions in Northern Ireland , the once troubled province which will become Britain’s only hard border with the rest of the EU.

Britain also wants to reach a new free trade agreement within the two-year timeframe, although it has conceded that a transitional deal might be necessary to allow Britain to adapt to its new reality.

Many business leaders are deeply uneasy about May’s decision to leave Europe’s single market, a free trade area of 500 million people, fearing its impact on jobs and economic growth.

The Brexit vote sent the pound plunging, although economic growth has been largely stable since then.

On Tuesday, Scotland’s semi-autonomous parliament backed a call by its nationalist government for a new referendum on independence before Brexit.

Scotland’s devolved administration is particularly concerned about leaving Europe’s single market – the price May says must be paid to end mass immigration, a key voter concern.

The prime minister rebuffed the referendum request and has vowed to fight for a new relationship with Brussels that will leave Britain stronger and more united than before.

The EU, too, is determined to preserve its own unity and has said that any Brexit deal must not encourage other countries to follow Britain out the door.

With the challenges ahead, there is a chance that negotiations will break down and Britain will be forced out of the EU without any deal in place.

This could be damaging for both sides, by erecting trade barriers where none now exist as well as creating huge legal uncertainty.

May has said that “no deal is better than a bad deal”, and she has the support of pro-Brexit hardliners in her Conservative party, who have been campaigning for decades to leave the EU.

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